Data Recovery
From a Failed Hard Drive - Hitting Method:

Believe it or not a hard drive that is not
working can be brought back to life by hitting
it. Sometimes the heads stick to the platter
causing the drive to lock up during shutdown.
If this is the case hitting the hard drive can
knock the heads free. This is a temporary fix
and sh ould only be used to recover the data,
you should copy your data off the drive ASAP.
If the drive is spinning (you will
hear it turning) this is not the method to use,
this method is best suited for data recovery
cases where the drive is not spinning. If
the drive is spinning it not physically damaged
so it is a problem that should be approached
through other methods.

Step 1: Make Sure You Are Prepared
to Recover the Data

There is no point in trying to restore the
old hard drive if you are not prepared to immediately
copy the data off of the failed hard drive.
You should have a new hard drive already installed
in the computer or have a different computer
setup and ready to go. As soon as you hook the
old hard drive back up to see if it works you'll
have to be ready to start copying the data onto
a fresh hard drive.

Step 2: Hit the Drive

Hit the drive with the palm of your hand firmly.
You are trying to free up the heads not to destroy
the drive so keep that in mind when you are
hitting it. If it does not work the first time
try again. You can also try hitting it with
a rubber mallet or with the handle of a tool
such as a screwdriver. You do not want to crush
or damage the drive so be careful when hitting
it.

Step 3: Restore the Files

Place hard drive back into the computer right
away as the slave drive and boot it up. If you
can access the drive begin recovering the important
data right away. If you are able to recover
the data using this method the drive will only
work for a short period of time and this method
usually only works one time. If the drive still
does not respond you can try this method again
by hitting it again either harder or with a
solid object.